Silver Oxide
by AbZHz101
Summary: Anime/XD cross. What if Cipher's XD001 was Silver's mother? Then obviously they got him too. If he got out who would he turn to? What would that change? Warning: Cursing
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Pokemon francise. Thsi story is not intended to be used for profit. Please support the official release.

Warning: Ash is not going to Orre. Hopefully I give a good enough story reason for this. However- trust Michael to do his thing in Orre as Ash goes through Unova. They WILL meet- this is not just an excuse for me to give Ash a Shadow Pokemon and send him off to haphazardly kick tail. This Ash has to be cautious and constantly will have conflicting goals- protecting Silver by staying out of the limelight or helping with the desaster of the day.

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><p>Oliver was right. If the Lugia left they would be safer, unfortunately just as the Lugia dived to what Ash and his friends thought was a safe journey, other sets of eyes were watching the whole ordeal, eyes that lusted for power. It would be five years before Ash found out what became of Silver and his mother, and when he did it made his blood boil at the name of Cipher.<p>

_Nets… Electricity… Screaming, both Mother's and mine…_

_Darkness… It's trying to crawl on me! Get it off! Get it off…_

_Pain… Make it stop… Have I lost myself again? _

_Those voices are talking again? What are they saying this time?_

"How are XD001 and 2 doing?"

"…must not…purified … ready for test."

_That is not my name…_

_Mother… Mother what have they done? Where have they taken you now? I have to get out… Oliver, Richie, Ash… how can people be so kind and yet so cruel?_

"XD002 it's time for your next session. Soon we'll make you into a fully unpurifable Shadow Pokémon, just like your mommy. Isn't that what you want?" The man intentionally saturated the words with venom, so much that any normal person would be appalled.

_That's not my name… That's not… I won't… __**I won't let you touch me again!**__** MY NAME IS SILVER!**_

/**GO AWAY!** /

"Ahh… Shadow Rush!"

_Water… Sea… Safety… Got to…get away. Get help… Help: Ash, Richie, Oliver!_

_Please… Somebody…__help_

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><p>"Ash! Welcome Home! We saw your performance in the Sinnoh League Championships. My little boy got all the way to the semi-finals!" cried a joyful Mrs. Ketchem.<p>

"Yeah, tough break though. Who knew that dude would have a Latios ALONG with his Darkria! Though the way things went, you could have got to the finals if the draw was different," Gary, his one-time-rival-turned-researcher mentioned.

"We're all very proud of what you and Pikachu have accomplished," remarked Gary's grandfather, the original Prof. Oak.

"Thanks everybody," Ash said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment of the praise.

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><p>"Hey, Ash!" Tracy called to his friend. Ash was staring off the shore into the inlet to the sea that was just south of Pallet. It was a little known route that was a straight shot to Cinnabar Island. It allowed Pallet Town to actually be a steady trade partner with the more well known and lucrative chunk of rock. However, due to the fact that only three places were really worth mentioning on this side of Mt. Moon, Pallet Town was in no danger of becoming a city, yet. And that suited the inhabitants just fine.<p>

"Tracy," Ash said with a smile, looking at his former traveling companion and sketch artist, who had become one of Prof. Oak's many assistants. Pikachu also greeted the artist.

"Enjoying the view?" Ash grunted an affirmation. "Man, Ash, now that I think about it, you stir things up anywhere you go, and you do it well." Ash looked at him not quite understanding. "First was the Indigo League in Kanto, your first real excursion into the big time, you got what Top 16? Then you won the Orange League. After that, you got to the second round of the Victor's Tournament in Johto, the quarter-finals in Hoenn, defeating the Battle Frontier back here in Kanto, and now the Semi-finals in Sinnoh. At this rate, two more appearances in the Tournament and you win it all. And let's not forget you somehow manage to get into trouble every step of the way. I mean really; Teams Rocket, Aqua, Magma, and now Galactic? Or all the legendaries you've met?" Tracy playfully punched Ash's shoulder. "You my friend are a magnet for trouble."

Ash and Pikachu looked at each other before nodding in agreement and ganging up on the sketch artist, wrestling him to the sand and pinning him. "All right! I give! I give!"

"Hey, Ash," Tracy began again after some time. Ash turned. "What are you going to do after your travels are done? I mean, you're a great battler, one of the best, but other than that, what are you going to do? Have you thought about it?"

"Not really, I mean it's always been my dream to become a Pokémon Master. And the Champion, the Elite Four, and the Gym Leaders and regular high-class trainers are able to make battling their job, but I guess if I couldn't do that I'd … hm, what would I do? Maybe a guide, I'd have first-hand experience," Ash said with a smile.

"Ash Ketchum, Guide of Pokémon Trainers to the Regions, nice title, I like it, that job could really suit you."

The three friends laughed before there was a splash as something black leapt from the water and body slammed Ash to the sand. When Ash saw what had hit him he was amazed. It was a black Lugia, but very small, obviously young; and the Lugia was crying on his shoulder and seemed to recognize him. Ash had met only three Lugia in his life; none had been black but the only one small enough for this to be was… "Silver? Is that you?" At the sound of the name the Psychic cried harder, then Ash noticed that part of his sleeve was red. "You're hurt! Tracy, we need to get Silver to Prof. Oak! I don't know how injured he is and I'm worried that he'll pass out!"

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><p><em>Ash… Please help me! Please, don't leave… Who are these people? Ash seems to trust them… <em>_Pikachu tell them that I don't want him to go! Please!_

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><p>"Ash," Said the aged Oak after they had finally gotten Silver to sleep, "he doesn't seem to want you out of sight. I think it's best if you stay here while he recovers. But he's resting now so try and pack, and I'll set up the bed." Ash wasn't that surprised that Prof. Oak had a bed in his lab, the man was known to stay late and arrive early, but he had bigger issues in mind.<p>

"What about getting him back home?"

"We can't move him now and later… I just don't know. I don't know where Lugia would go to keep their young save. Not much is known about them as a species, there _is_ a reason they are thought to be Legends after all."

"You don't know where they would go… but I know someone who does! Quick, Prof., how soon can we get a ride to the Orange Islands?"

"I can't recommend moving Silver for another two weeks at the soonest; even then, a helicopter would have difficulty fitting so many people." He saw Ash's confused expression. "You, Silver, the Pilot, I'm coming and I'm sure others will want to as well, helicopters just don't have that kind of space! And then consider that it would have to be someone we could trust to keep a secret otherwise within a week everyone will know we took a black Lugia to Shimuti Island. We'd have to travel be sea, and with a large water type, because there are no planes or ships from Pallet to the Orange Islands."

_'Lapris is somewhere… large water type… Misty!' _"I've got to make a phone call!" Ash exclaimed. He quickly went over to the vid-phone and dialed the number for the Cerulean Gym. "Come on- pick up! Pick up! Pick up!" he muttered under his breath until the receiver was answered. "Misty, I-" anything else that he was going to say was forgotten as he saw who had answered-it wasn't Misty, it was one of her sisters. It was the one with purple hair… Violet wasn't it?

"What is it you want with my _darling_ little sister? I know- you must be her secret suitor who has been trying to woe her behind our backs, right?" Ash had to wonder if that was what all her scripts were about, then he remembered- they were. "That's so- SWEET! You know, you didn't have to go the secret route- though it is more romantic- we would have helped you capture Little Misty's attentions."

"Violet, who are you patronizing now?" The voice was feminine and vaguely familiar; Ash guessed that it belonged to another of Misty's sisters- Lily if he recalled correctly.

"This boy called up wanting to run away with Misty-" she answered her older sister before Ash managed to cut her off. "THAT'S NOT TRUE! I just really need Misty here right now!"

"See?" Violet asked. Lily sighed and looked at Ash. "Look, she's in the middle of a battle right now, so just tell me what you need to say to her and I'll give it to her after the battle. Also, try and think about the other ways somebody might take your sentence, it might just save you embarrassment in the future."

Ash nodded. "Tell her that 'a _mutual friend_ from the _Whirl Islands_ is hurt and we need to get him home and the only one who knows where to send our _mutual friend_ is at _Shamouti Island_; and we need a ride there. Count on a minimum of at least four other people. But he won't be safe to move for at least two weeks.' Alright?"

"I got it, but can't you be little more clear?" Ash merely shook his head before saying his goodbyes. She was only mildly surprised when, after she related the message, Misty bolted out of the Gym, asking them to take care of it while she was away; before racing to the Pokémon Center and running off again.

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><p>File found, would you like to open it? [<span>y<span>] [n]

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XDLog i:

Today we have succeeded in acquiring a Lugia for our Shadow Pokemon, project. Succeeded... No Exceeded! Because we have gained not one, but two Lugia! And one of them is a child. As it is in early stages it is a perfect candidate for our experiments on a growing Shadow Pokemon, our last failure has made obvious that Shadow Pokemon who are stagnant can be overcome, this outrage must not stand!

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From this day forth the adult shall be XD001 and the child XD002.


	2. Chapter 2

Misty looked at the small town she had visited on occasion and had to say not much had changed. She traced a familiar route to Ash's childhood home only to find the other two occupants- his mother and her Mr. Mime. Mrs. Ketchem told her that Ash had been staying at Prof. Oak's lab for some reason. His mother was becoming worried because he would hardly leave the room for either meals or sleep- it wasn't healthy. Misty reminded her that it was Ash and there was probably a very important reason he wasn't sleeping in his room. As she carefully trod up the hill she noticed that on the outside everything was normal. Pokemon were out and running around but if one looked closely they would notice that there was an air of uncertainty behind everything.

Inside she found Gary who had mellowed out since the last time she had seen the researcher. He pointed to a room and told her "Be cautious if Ash wasn't in the room, it's like he has two personalities- one of a small child and the other like an angry older sibling. The last time anyone had tried feeding him without Ash being there to assure him- well the poor guy got confusioned into the wall."

Slightly disturbed by the warning she entered the room. Ash and Pikachu were in the room, asleep. Curled in the boy's arms was a form she had expected, Silver, but something was obviously wrong. His beak had been slimmed and curled as though to rip and tear, the formerly blue- now purple- plates around the eyes had looked as if they had been taken to with a sander, making the edge a cruel dagger. His scales once opaque were now an unmistakable black. The shock made her intake an acute breath.

That subtle noise seemed enough to wake the Lugia. He opened an eye, saw her and joyfully chirped, before rubbing against Ash's chest to wake him. Ash stirred; apparently there was something other than a high level attack that could get him up in the morning before ten. "Misty!" he said, but did not get up. Though he was glad that she had made it, he wasn't ready to change positions so that Sliver and Pikachu could still be comfortable. "You didn't have any trouble getting here right?"

"No," she answered. "I took the Diglett Cave and the path along the forest. Since so few people use it there really wasn't anything exciting.* But Ash, why is Silver here? And what happened to him?"

Ash shook his head. "I don't know, I can't understand Pokemon all that well, but whatever happened really bothered them. It even made Septile stop and cry. We figure something bad happened to his mother because he came to me alone, but what happened... I just don't know."

"Oh," Misty responded, knowing this was a difficult situation for Ash. He was someone who liked doing things; he'd rather be out there beating the person who did this to a pulp than here sitting on his hands. But there was nothing they could do right now, the police had no clues, Nurse Joy said that other than the obvious signs of abuse there seemed to be nothing wrong with Silver. And as of yet, no one in the academic field had responded to Prof. Oak. Though to be fair on the last one it had been a quiet plea so that researchers from someone like Team Rocket or Galactic would get their hands on it and try and take Silver.

"Well, still," Ash said to break the oppressive silence, "coming all that way can't have been easy. And we still have to get some arrangements at Shamouti done, so why don't you spend the night with my mom and we'll leave in the morning."

"Oh, right," the Cerulean Gym leader said. But she made no move to leave and he made no attempt to push her out of the room. Instead she sat down close to Ash and absently began to stroke Silver's scale-like feathers. Eventually she saw nothing was happening and sighed. Silver moaned, worried that he had hurt her feelings somehow.

"Don't mind me," she said. "It was a stupid idea anyway."

"What was?" Ash asked not sure what she was talking about.

"I just saw his feathers and thought that I might just be able to rub off the discoloration like silver oxide."

"Silver… oxide?"

"You know those new submarines that are letting us dive down further than where we can get to with pokemon?" Ash nodded unsure of how those fit in, but was willing to play along. "Well some scientists are using them to recover the cargo of ship wrecks. And when they go down, especially to wrecks that have been down for centuries they find these black items- coins, plates, spoons, forks, all that stuff. And if you rub them even slightly it turns out that they're high grade silver underneath. What happens is that if you leave silver in salt water for extended periods of time the Oxygen dissolved in the water actually bonds on the atomic level with the silver changing it to sliver oxide. But another thing about it is that the oxide actually becomes a coating that protects the rest of the silver from the salt water so only the outside layer oxidizes."

"I guess I thought that maybe we could rub that black off of him but I should have realized that you had probably already given him a bath."

"Yeah," Ash agreed to the last part of the statement, "he really loves the water. Sometimes I forget that he's Flying/ Psychic the way he's at home in the lake or the small sea inlet that the professor has out back. But you know," he continued, "it wasn't a stupid idea. I don't think anyone here thought of it. And besides trying didn't hurt anything so why not?"

"Is that your motto Ash?" she teased.

"Well it would explain why I get into so many crazy situations," he replied. They both laughed and fell into silence once more- only now it was comfortable. Pikachu woke up and jumped into Misty's lap and the four of them sat comfortably for a while enjoying being together for the first time in a long time.

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><p>*Game Reference- besides it has been a couple of years since Ash traveled Kanto- things change<p>

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><p>File found, would you like to open it? [<span>y<span>] [n]

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XDLog ii:

Because the work on XD002 is so experimental it has been decided that as few outside components must be involved as possible. As such it has been decided that XD002 will not be captured, who knows if the return laser or the inner workings of the ball will affect the results for the worse. XD002 is possibly the youngest subject in the lab and is displaying a behavior that is both useful and unprecedented. It seems to be developing a split personality, one its original personality is easy to coax into testing areas with even the implied threat of pain, making it very manageable. Its secondary personality is extremely violent and tends to ignore pain and only blackouts or seeing XD001 seem to be calm it; it is a powerful warrior.


	3. Chapter 3

Melody was waiting with her sister Carol on their new boat a couple of miles off of Shamuti looking to the south when a Gyarados swam into view. The two were expecting it as the pokemon as Ash had called them close to two week ago. As it came closer they also noticed a black shape keeping pace with the large Water Wrym. They also soon could distinguish people on the Water/ Flying. The sisters recognized Ash, Tracy, Misty, and Prof. Oak though there was another boy about the other teens' age in a lab coat with them. The Gyarados swam up to their boat and the two helped Tracy, Prof. Samuel Oak, and the boy who introduced himself as Gary Oak- grandson and research aid to THE Prof. Oak.

Melody found him to have a certain charm, acceptable but she was more interested in seeing the dark shape up close. When she looked she gasped, a black Lugia! And it was so tiny! It seemed saddened by her gasp. Ash smiled at her then turned to the Lugia and told it, "I think you would have gotten that reaction anyway, Silver." Then he turned back to Melody and Carol and said, "Melody, Carol, this is Silver. We need to talk to Lugia to see about getting him home. And he's kind of self-conscious about his coloring- it isn't natural or something he chose." They nodded and the two sisters led Misty's Gyarados and Silver into the bay and while they docked Ash and Misty got off Gyarados whom she recalled. After everyone disembarked the sisters led the group up to the shrine. Ash found that it was quicker for him to carry Silver than for their pace to be dictated by Silver's slow pace. He didn't blame the pokemon but digression was paramount.

There they encountered Slowking who was partially shocked at seeing so many people at once and then became dumbfounded when he noticed Silver in Ash's arms. "We need to talk to Lugia." The pokemon nodded mutely not quite understanding why but knew it had to be important. They went to the cliff-face and the sisters both pulled out a flute made of seashells and began to play Lugia's song. The Guardian of the Sea appeared half-way through knowing that something was wrong for two people to be playing the song and it was the wrong time of year.

It looked over the group, turned to Slowking who indicated that it didn't know, and back to the group Ash specifically with a look that said clearly, "explain." "Lugia, we need your help. Silver came to me in Pallet Town looking like this but with a lot of injuries. He was crying and we don't know where his mother is. You were the only one we had an idea where you were- can you help us?"

Lugia called Silver toward him and the young pokemon hesitantly obeyed. "Let me look into your mind, young one. I promise I will not hurt you," he projected. He was silent for a time then "said," "Oh no, to have seen so much cruelty at such an age! My heart tears!" Then he turned back to the gathered group of humans and pokemon. "I must thank you all for coming to me. As some of you may know this child and his mother were going to leave the Whirl Islands in Jhoto to escape from evil men's eyes. However, they had not yet left when they were set upon by another group of black-hearted men. A group that operates primarily in Orre- Cypher."

"We Legendaries are aware of the group because our total species count is low, thus when one member goes missing it is noticed quickly- doubly so if they are children. Close to six years ago an Entei, Suicune, and Rikou all went missing within months of each other. A Ho-Oh went to check on them and when we found out about them it turned out that a group had taken the Beasts and done terrible things to them. The pokemon had had their hearts sealed away artificially in an attempt to make them fighting slaves. This group was foiled by a young couple and an Umbreon and Espeon. Using technology I do not understand they wrested the "Shadow Pokemon," as those who have had their hearts sealed are called, and purified them. We thought that such would be the last we would hear of them but apparently we were wrong. Besides the Young One and his mother, a Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno have disappeared over the last five years. Knowing this, it is only right to assume…" The Legendary trailed off.

Lugia continued after a pause, "Still I must thank you. We were so worried that the worst had happened. Despite the bitter-sweetness, at least we know what happened now. This is the first we had heard of these two in five years."

"Lugia," Ash said. "I'll go to Orre and stop this!"

"No!" the Psychic type roared. "No," it repeated far more quietly. "I cannot allow you to go, Ash. There is something else that you must do for me and This One. I did not mention it before but there are only two ways for a Shadow Pokemon to be returned to normal. One is for it to meet Celebi, whom I cannot contact. The other is for it to be raised by a trainer it trusts completely. What Man has done, Man must undo. Ash, to you he gave a part of his heart, as such he did not become a complete Shadow Pokemon- that combined with his age and the experiments run on him make him unique even among other Legendary Shadow Pokemon. He can still grow, but as you no-doubt discovered has a split personality. You are one of the few people both personalities trust. You are also the only one _I_ trust. I can ask this of no one else. What I am about to ask is unprecedented but so too are the circumstances. I would like you to take him as one of your trained pokemon, help him grow powerful! But to do that you also must keep him safe.

"Cypher will have eyes and ears everywhere for him. You must go somewhere that they will not look. Unova, a region far in the other direction of Orre, far enough away that no species you are familiar with makes its home there- I would like you to take him there. And while there keep hidden for news of a Black Lugia anywhere is sure to stir a hornet's nest of trouble."

Lugia looked at the boy- no young man- whose hands trembled in clenched fists and called gently to him, "I understand that you do not like this- but tell me how do you think I feel? After worrying for five years, wondering of their fate I find out that my _sister_ had been made into an abomination. I am entrusting my _nephew_ to your care- do not think of this as running, but as keeping him safe. Do not worry- I can already feel Fate's cloth spinning the solution to Cypher, and it involved no one here. But know how much it pains me to ask you not to go. I know that you would tear the region apart stone by stone until you found them and made them pay. Do not stain your hands, Ash. Please, can you do this for me?"

Ash started long into that ancient face before slowly nodding. Then he asked as it came to his mind, "What about Silver's ball?"

"Cypher determined that they should have as little variables involved during their experiments on him," Lugia told him. "As such he was never 'captured.'"

Nodding in understanding he waited for Sliver to return and pulled out a Poke Ball. Prof. Oak stopped him and handed him something. It was a Premier Ball. "They are for special occasions, Ash," the old man told him. "I can think of no one more important than this." Ash nodded and took the gleaming white ball and held it before Silver. The Lugia tapped it with his beak and was quickly sucked inside. The button became red before quickly returning to white- this had been a willing capture after all. As Ash had not been expecting a battle the only other pokemon with him was Pikachu.

An eternity he waited there just staring at the sphere that now contained a Johto Legend. He smiled but did not dance- it was not appropriate. It did not feel like he accomplished something- more like a great weight had been placed upon his shoulders- but he smiled all the same.

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><p>File found, would you like to open it? [<span>y<span>] [n]

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XDLog iii:

One thing that has been noted is that each side of XD002 has a unique move set. The Submissive personality has a move set that would be expected of a regular Lugia. Meanwhile the Aggressive personality has Shadow variants of those moves, the exception being of course Psychic Attacks which do not have a Shadow analog- however it seems that the Aggressive personality is not incapable of utilizing Psychic moves, it simply uses moves like its Submissive counterpart.

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><p>Yeah... Lugia didn't know about the Relic stone.<p>

Also in no way do I think that the stories where Silver is the Sea Gaurdian Lugia's son is wrong- it's just... it has become over-done. We don't know how they relate to one another so I'm putting out another option to be different. Take it how you will.

Next up don't expect me to update this until after Unova has run it's course. While I doubt they will do too much forshadowing and Checkov guns/ men/ boomerangs call me paranoid. Then factor in that I don't update until I have the next sequencial arc down and yeah very few people will remember this by the time I next post (or you could prove me wrong whichever.) BTW I am dub born and raised- don't like it? Too bad, write something yourself.

Speaking of... I'm actually surprsed by the lack of fics to feature Silver (the Lugia dumbasses)- granted I haven't looked through the whole site but still you'd think that there would be more.


	4. Chapter 4

I know I said I'd wait months, but then I notced I had forgotten to write up XD Log iii. Fixed that- go to chapter three to check it out. But other than that enjoy the semi-filler where I place Silver's starting power level.

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><p>Ash's return to Pallet was almost disconcertingly calm. Nothing unexpected happened. Carol and Melody had given him a small flute, a few pieces of sheet music, a promise for a more ornate seashell one, and an explanation. They all remembered that Lugia's song had the power to revitalize the Legendary and so if he were ever forced into a do or die situation where Cipher or their ilk caught up to him, he could- in theory- keep Silver from fainting long enough for them to get away.<p>

That reminded the teen of what they were doing now. Ash had promised to take Silver to Unova and make him strong enough to deal with the likes of Cipher. The best thing for that was to see where he currently was in his abilities and what they could improve before they left the continent.

It had yielded interesting results. Silver had been very earnest in trying to show Ash what he could do- sometimes to startling results. Silver had many powerful moves for his assumed power level- if one had to make a guess Cipher had used many TMs and HMs on the Lugia child. Silver knew Surf, Whirlpool, and Rain Dance and that was just in Water type moves. In the Psychic department it was more meager with only Safegaurd and what they had assumed to be Confusion but had turned out to be Psychic, Silver's other personality had apparently been feeling generous to his victim. When it came to Flying Silver was decent, having Gust and Whirlwind factoring in the fact that Silver could use his Psychic powers to boost the wind speed it turned attacks that might have been laughable into something quite formidable. Silver also knew enough about flying that he was not swatted out of the air in his first mock-battle with either Swellow or Starrapator.

But all in all Ash couldn't help but be a bit worried. Were so many high-power moves at such a young age good for his body and mind? Cipher obviously wouldn't care- they'd have used him until he was a dried out husk and left the corpse to the Mightiana.

Then there was the _other_ side of him to worry about. The other part seemed to have stored all of the shadow moves that Silver had acquired, most being reflections of his normal moves. They had figured out through a lot of trial and error that the Shadow moves the side they had yet to name had were: Shadow Rush- which was like Tackle and anyone could figure out how to do that; Shadow Wave- a Surf variant which had caused him to lose bowel control the first time he saw it up close; Shadow Storm- this one seemed to be based off of either Gust or Whirlwind, or both; Shadow Sky- it reminded him of Rain Dance an Hail all at once, it looked like Rain Dance but felt like Hail; and Shadow Hold- like Whirlpool only it didn't do damage, which seemed odd for a Shadow Move.

Silver's other half had a penchant for sticking his head in whenever he felt things had gone too far. When this happened the first time and he began to wail on Glalie who had been testing Silver's dodging ability had been a terrifying experience. Thankfully by now they had worked out the boundary zone of what that half considered acceptable and what he did not. They were also working on extending that boundary but had not had much luck so far. And they still had not yet figured out a name for him. Shadow had immediately come to mind but was dismissed because he did care about Silver and Silver's well-being if no one else. Besides better not to constantly remind Silver of his appearance, it was one of the easier ways to get on the other personality's bad side. The second personality seemed to give out a certain number of passes to account for shock. After that well... nice knowing ya.

_'It's like he doesn't care about anyone but Silver,'_ Ash thought. _'I wonder if they weren't in the same body, would he even care what happened to himself as long as Silver was alright? It's like he tries to be a barrier keeping the world from Silver; a black, protective barrier... Where have I heard that before? Oxide! Silver Oxide! That is what he's like! I wonder if he'd accept that as his name?'_

There were also other things that Ash wanted to try. He wanted to see if Silver could figure out how to use Whirlpool like his uncle had. Luckily Prof. Oak had some of the footage so Silver wasn't reverse engineering the move off of a description alone. It seemed that Lugia had merged Whirlpool and Psychic to mimic a low oceanic current which he had no difficulty swimming in. It might have been the subconscious inspiration for the Counter Shield. Oxide as Ash had begun to think of Silver's other personality was very receptive of the idea- it was something they could work on without lightning being shot at him. Speaking of which- he had tried to show them both the lightning armor technique.

Oxide had actually gone on a rampage at first because of, from what they had managed to pick out, "a half-baked, suicidal, beyond-the-impossible, stupidest-idea-since-the-invention-of-  
>Shadow-Pokemon." It had taken an actual demonstration from Pikachu and Swellow and even then Oxide was barely restraining himself and Silver was nervous about the plan. It was not brought up again.<p>

Prof. Oak had been in constant contact with some of his colleagues in Unova the current and retired Profs. Juniper. He had also attempted contact with the leading Prof. in Orre but Prof. Krane, as he found out from some of the aides at the HQ Lab, had been kidnapped. Lily, the Lab Director, was only able to pull herself away from the project she was working on to talk to Prof Oak once. When she left she seemed more determined than ever and had not been able to return any more calls.

It was finally the day of their departure and Ash was packed but there was one more issue that he wanted to take care of before he got on a plane. "I know you don't like it but it's not permanent," Ash said. Pikachu continued to give him Cute Eyes. "Just until we are a few towns in- there aren't any Pikachu that are native to Unova and I don't want to cause a stir. Please, if not for me then for Silver?" At that both of them knew Ash had won, and so for the first time in years Ash pulled out the poke ball with a small lightning bolt sticker and Pikachu went inside.

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><p>File found, would you like to open it? [<span>y<span>] [n]

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XDLog iv:

XD002's progress is not as swift as our superiors would like. They feel that the Submissive Personality is holding the Aggressive personality back and therefore is not worth the value of keeping. While interesting as an experiment they feel that its continued existence will only be a hindrance to the project and have ordered its termination. In an attempt to fulfill orders XD002 has been separated from XD001.

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><p>Wow I know I'm going to get some hate for pulling off that little stunt but it had a purpose. I am <strong>not<strong> just going to restate canon. Chances are that I will have many similarities but it is an AU, things will be different. But don't worry this is Ash over-reacting, soon he'll realize that Cipher wouldn't care about a trainer with a Pikachu in Unova- though it will cause a local might be trying to avoid attention but Pikachu really only stands out when someone talks to him- or am I the only one who noticed a distinct lack of background characters staring at the yellow mouse?

By the way is anyone else annoyed at the fact that the Bird of Storms can't use Hurricane?


	5. Chapter 5

Ash stepped off the plane unaware that he was being watched. Then he felt the back of his neck prickle. Acting on impulse he stopped as everyone else rushed to the security of the terminal for its protection against the coming storm. And he looked up when everyone else put their heads down to run faster. And he was rewarded for this by seeing that the storm cloud was from a large draconic Pokemon. The Dragon had mirth in its eyes at its discovery and merely cracked a smile while making a shushing gesture as if to say the encounter was to be "Our Little Secret." Then the Pokemon Ash would later learn was Zekrom, flew off, taking the cloud with it. Staring at the direction it had gone Ash realized that it was likely to be business as usual for him- which was worrying because he _had_ promised to keep Silver safe.

"What do ya's tink he was looking at?" Meowth asked.

"I don't know but I haven't seen his Pikachu," James said. "It's actually quite disconcerting seeing him without that Electric Mouse."

"You mean when we haven't stolen it," Jessie amended.

"Yes, but I thought they were bonded at the shoulder as it were," James lamented.

"It bares further investigation," Jesse agreed. "But only so far as we can while still doing our job, got it? We've lost too much time and respect dogging that kid."

"I don't know; he's kind of grown on me."

"He has a talent at catching and raising winners sure. But at the end of the day I at least want to have something for our efforts. Even if the ones he gets his hands on turn out to be diamonds. I'd rather get fifty Cat's Eyes then always failing at one Diamond."

"All right," the two males moaned.

Ash noticed a woman holding a sign reading "Ash Katchem" and wearing a lab coat. Prof Oak had said that someone from the local Pokemon Lab would be around to give him a ride in. "Hi," he said walking up to the woman. "You're from the Lab right?"

"That's right," she said. "I'm Prof. Juniper. You must be Ash. Prof. Oak has told me all about you."

"Has there been any word on-"

"No," she answered before he could mention anything involving the Orre Region. "They haven't contacted us with any changes. But don't worry- they haven't given up so you shouldn't either. Okay?"

"Yeah."

"Good, now follow me," she said tucking the sign under her arm. "The jeep is this way."

"Wow, so many new Pokemon! Pikachu would have loved to see this!" Ash said looking at some spring Deerling.

"You left him at home them?" the Prof. asked detecting the melancholy in his voice.

"No, it's just that I didn't want to make a scene, you know?"

"Considering your situation it's an understandable but ultimately unfounded fear," she mused.

"WHAT?"

"A Wild Pikachu in Unova would be an amazing discovery though I guess it might have come from mating with a trained Pikachu or a trainer releasing one, or both. But while a trained Pikachu might turn heads it will simply mark you as well traveled. You have been to other lands because Pikachu do not naturally live here, get it?"

Ash was embarrassed by her explanation. It made so much sense. And this also meant he was in the doghouse with Pikachu for a while. Ooops. It was an honest mistake! Ashe was still going to be zapped for that.

"We're here," Prof. Juniper stated bringing him out of his musings. "Now we're also expecting a new trainer today so don't be surprised if he shows up, alright? Well speak of the devil, you must be Trip."

* * *

><p>As Trip was leaving it was as if he had remembered that Ash was a Trainer and asked the boy from Kanto for a one-on-one match. Ash agreed and they moved to the field behind the Lab.<p>

"Go, Snivy!"  
>"Pikachu, I choose you!" The two Pokemon eyed the opponent warily as their Trainers both took out the newest version of the Pokedex that Prof. Juniper had given them that day looking for information on his opposite's choice. Putting the device away, Ash told his partner, "Snivy's a Grass type, but it's also Trip's first official battle as a trainer, okay, buddy? So why don't we let him have the first round."<p>

Trip seemed annoyed that his opponent was giving him a handicap but Ash wasn't worried about that. He just pulled the brim of his cap over his eyes as he turned to the side. After all, Pikachu could affect _Ground_ types with his electricity, not to mention how much more experience his partner had when compared to the Snivy. He'd give the guy a shot, just blasting him to the sky was really unfair- besides the kid needed to learn humility; a lesson that Ash would admit privately, that he himself struggled with.

But he wasn't sure what to do with his opponent taking pictures during a battle. That was disconcerting. The only other people he had met with that special brand of insanity were Todd Snap and Tracy- though Trip had less than either of those two.

"Tackle!" Miss. Rinse and repeat. Pikachu had avoided bigger and faster, to him this was nothing. Ooh, Trip was getting frustrated. He'd change tactics soon. "Leaf Storm!" Well, this would hurt. Pikachu simply had no good way to dodge without fighting back and he wasn't ready to do that yet. Ash turned his head in concern for his partner. But then that look turned into a smile as he read in Pikachu's body language that he was ready. Now it was their turn.

"Thundershock!" Pikachu sent one home. Trip was not as worried as he should have been. Then again after it struck he was. "Pikachu has a lot more experience and levels than Snivy does," Ash explained. "He's been at my side for years now. So if he went all out, I'm worried I'd crush your spirit. Battles are about becoming closer with your Pokemon, learning, and having fun (in that order). And this lesson is that there are people more experienced than you from all places and walks of live. Don't put them down because they are from a 'hick town.'" Trip grimaced as Ash threw his previous words back at him. Then to his surprise Ash smiled at him. "Come on! I told you, we're supposed to be having fun. That face is not someone having fun."

And for the first time, Trip seeing Ash as someone who did have knowledge listened and found himself enjoying it. "Well I'll be," Ash said looking at the sky.

Trip looked up. "No way!" he exclaimed, pulling up his camera. Above them a White Dragon softly smiled. "That's Reshiram, Dragon of Truth." When he looked back down he felt rather than saw- something about his opponent was special. And while he knew they would meet again- this was his omen just as much it was Ash's. This battle- this lesson- was one he should take to heart. After all it was sanctified by the Dragon of Truth! Even after they both had gone back to the Lab and had their partners checked over before going their separate ways Trip knew they'd meet again and those encounters should be something to savor.

* * *

><p>File found, would you like to open it? [<span>y<span>] [n]

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XDLog v:

Clever little… while initial observations to the breaking of XD002 seemed to be positive it has proved more difficult than anticipated. While 02's aggressive personality is easily the more dominant it seems to actively resist our attempts to remove the submissive. 02 is proving to be extremely stubborn and unwilling to break. However, that just makes everyone giddy at how thoroughly it will obey once we do bring it to heel.

* * *

><p><strong>My main issue with completeing more of these chapters are two and simple. I'm running out of ideas for the XD Logs and I also have other stories. My head runs where it will- for example I actually have an idea for a NGEAnimorphs cross. Let's just say it would have to be in parts and NGE would end up closer to Zoids and you might get the general idea.**

**For a weird challenge check out my profile.**


	6. Chapter 6

Iris was different from the girls that Ash knew. If he had to make a comparison he'd say she was closer to Misty than to May or Dawn. Both cared more for battling than contests, were attempting to become a Type Master, and were already trainers when he first met either one. But even then there were differences. Misty had a shorter fuse and was more likely to go for violence and threats. But that seemed to stem from some insecurities that she had gotten as being the "Youngest Cerulean Sister." She had defiantly mellowed out during her time as Gym Leader. Iris however seemed to think herself more mature and knowledgeable than he was automatically due to his enthusiasm. He had no real reason to correct her. Then of course there was the obvious, Misty wanted to be a Water Master, while Iris hoped to Master Dragons.

She had also given him much to think about. She had said it was his luckiest day ever for seeing both Reshiram and Zekrom on the same day. Ash wasn't so sure. Thankfully though now she and her partner were asleep so he could talk to someone who might know. He briefly thought about introducing Pidove as well then decided that their meeting could wait a night. This might be more important. So he took his Premier Ball out of where it had been concealed in his pack and tossed it into the air. Silver looked around at the surroundings and made a questioning gaze to where Iris and Axew were sleeping.

"That's Iris and her friend Axew," Ash told him. "I felt bad for bonking her with a Pokeball and Pikachu zapping her so I invited her to stay with us for dinner. They've been out for the last hour, so we're good." Silver nodded slightly relaxing. "Anyway she mentioned some really interesting things. It seems that I've met Reshiram and Zekrom today, two Legendaries that are credited with creating the Unova Region as it is today. And now that I think about it, I've met a lot of Legendaries. I think it might be easier to count the ones that I haven't met yet. And they were looking at me and smiling. Like they knew me. Do you know what's up with that?"

He got a response in the form of a picture popping into his head. A Lugia and a Ho-oh were looking at each other and their beaks were moving and they were gesturing. Then the Ho-oh turned into a Mew, the Lugia into a Dialga, Mew into Celebi, Dialga into Zekrom. Silver was telling him that Legendaries… talk? Didn't Lugia say something about that? That Legendaries keep tabs on each other because of their small numbers. So it wasn't that surprising then, that they'd talk about the kid they all seemed to be meeting. Which meant Zekrom and Reshirom were only satisfying their curiosity.

Then he realized, "You're learning telepathy! That's amazing Silver!" Were it not for his feathers Ash would have been able to see his blush. Pictures were easy to send. They were concrete. Words were hard. It would be a long time in Silver's mind before he could communicate like his uncle. And the pictures didn't tell the whole story. But maybe that was for the best.

"Er, I'm going to try and sleep," Ash told him. "Let me know if you want to turn in."

Silver nodded and returned to his musings. Ash dreamed of becoming a Master. What he didn't realize was that he was already a Companion. That was the highest title Pokemon could bestow upon a human because it wasn't for a specific deed but for a lifetime of care and trust. Pokemon didn't care about records or badges. They were pretty souvenirs and memories, nothing more. Things like that didn't make it into Pokemon Legends.

Silver only knew these things because Uncle had allowed him to see some of his own memories. Those also had allowed him to remember much more from before The Pain. During those dark times he had very little to cling to except for specific faces of those that he had trusted. And the legends he had memorized. Humans held the place of enigma in Pokemon Legends. They were the Creatures of a Thousand and One Faces. Only a few kinds of humans made it into Pokemon Legends: the Abominations, the Ignorant, the Blessed, and the Companions.

Abominations were boogiemen. Pokemon used stories of them to scare hatchlings into staying close to the nest and being good otherwise they would be taken by them. Cypher were all Abominations that made no attempt to hide it. They were the enemies of the Blessed and the Companions.

The Ignorant were most humans and appeared only as a mob. Well-intentioned but foolish they usually made more problems than they solved but should one be met alone they would be kind. They were also capable of great things under a good, strong leader.

The Blessed were those that could understand Pokemon. They were close to Pokemon and would take up the role of teaching the Ignorant why Pokemon did what they did or why they were upset and attacking. The Blessed were treasured peacemakers.

Companions were marked even higher. While not all could understand Pokemon words- they understood Pokemon hearts. Their own hearts resonated with Pokemon and could not stand to see one in pain. They were also the ones that were chosen to bond with Legendary Pokemon. While not every Companion did, they were the only ones that Legendaries would allow themselves to be seen to. And if the Companion passed that Legendary's test, should the Companion chose to the Companion could catch them. It was rare, but not unheard of, for a Companion to catch more than one Legendary because the tests became that much harder after each catch.

Then there were some Companions that seemed to go beyond even that. They were rare, like once-in-a-Legendary-Generation-Rare, but they also had a special skill. The ability to bring those they met that much closer to becoming a Companion. But it was odd in another way; such a skill seemed to only exist as long as the person _didn't know they had it_. Uncle believed that Ash fell into this last category. Becoming a Companion so young did seem to point to it, and if he was- maybe it was for the best that he thought himself only a small oddity, instead of a living Legendary's Legend.

This brought up another point, something Uncle had asked of him. Traditionally, Companions of a high caliber had epics sung of their deeds compiled, as stated by the Legendary that knew them best, by a Lugia. After all Lugia and Ho-oh in addition to aiding in the World's balance were specifically in charge of maintaining Pokemon Legends. Lugia would compose it and was in charge of singing it though out the Sea. They would also teach it to Ho-oh who would spread it across Sky and Land. Then the Regi would carve it into a slab that had been created for the occasion by Heatran and the slab set into a special chamber in the Hall of Origin. There it would stay until a celebration occurred once a millennia where they would be sung aloud in order from oldest to youngest. And Uncle was trusting _him_ to create Ash's.

/Why me? Surely I'm the worst choice. I've spent the last four and a half years in a cage. I don't even know where to begin!/ His cry created a startled shout that in turn caused Silver to look where it had come from, then around camp to see if anyone else was awake, and back to the source of the noise. /Come out! Why are you here?/ he asked sounding more brave than he felt.

/I'm sorry,/ he heard as a blue Pokemon walked into the clearing. Silver definitely didn't recognize it, but then he wouldn't recognize any Unova Pokemon. He had been too young to begin even learning what Unova's Legendaries were and what they looked like. /I was just… I really wanted to be with Ash, the boy over there. There's something about him, you know?/

'_He doesn't __seem__ like he wants to hurt Ash… __**If he tries anything I **__**hurt**__** him**__. Please don't. We don't want Iris to know about us.' _/You're wild?/ Silver asked aloud.

The Pokemon shook his head. /I was raised at the Lab./

/Doesn't that mean you're a Starter? That you should be helping other _new_ trainers?/

/I know. It's just… when I saw him and watched him battle- I felt something. I _knew_ that we were supposed to work together. Have you ever felt that?/ Silver wasn't sure how to respond to the question. Ash, and Richie, Oliver and the others had all felt safe. Trustworthy. They reminded him of Mother that way. And Uncle was the same. But had he? If he had it had been too long ago- too much pain had obscured it. But he did know what the Pokemon meant. It was said that every Pokemon that would walk with a Companion would feel a song being played on their heart when they realized it. Not always a first meeting, but at respect. But respect came before trust and Silver had trusted Ash before The Pain. Remembering feelings before that was… very difficult. /I'm an Oshawott. What are you?/

/My name is Silver. Oshawott, it's late. Find a place to sleep and figure out how to approach him in the morning, understood?/ Oshawott nodded. /Good, it will be better for everyone if this is done during the day… Oh and one more thing- don't you dare mention me to anyone outside of his team, got it?/ By the way Oshawott gulped Silver guessed that some of Oxide had shown in his eyes.

/But who are you?/ the Pokemon asked.

/If you're right, you'll find out./

* * *

><p>File found, would you like to open it? [<span>y<span>] [n]

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XDLog vi:

XD002 has taken to singing to itself. Such behavior is not tolerated however we have yet to devise a punishment that had proven effective. Beatings have gotten us nowhere, and while starving or allowing 02 to suffer dehydration has proven partially effective, it is only because the swelling of the throat prevents 02 from singing. Unfortunately XD002 is considered too valuable to have its vocal cords removed, so it seems that until we come up with something better we will simply have to live with it.

* * *

><p><strong>So a little insight on Silver's feelings and on the side of the Pokemon world we don't readily see in the Anime. What do you think? Basically Lugia and Ho-oh share the duties of being Pokemon Bards I guess you could say. And the thing with the celebration is that stories change when they are told- be it so the audience can understand, or the teller forgets, or so that the little ones can actually hear it without getting nightmares. Every 1000 years though they are told to everyone as they were originally written so that they aren't warped around completely.<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

Unbeknownst to Ash and company a young boy watched him as he found the abandoned Tepig. He had attempted to speak with it earlier but it had been so scared that Tepig had not stayed long enough for him to get a word in edgewise. Father might get mad at him for continuing to dally here, but no matter. For one, he needed a rival and this boy seemed like a reasonable choice. Then there was the fact that, he had never seen a Pokemon like the one that resided on the boy's shoulder, nor seen behavior like the kind it displayed. It made him curious.

"Sorry for being so ineffective," a green haired boy said to Don George. "He ran away before I could talk to him." Then the boy looked at Ash still holding Tepig, "And it seems that you've solved it without my help." The boy put on a friendly smile and crouched to Ash's eye level because the latter was kneeling. "If you don't mind, I'd like to ask your Pokemon some questions; I can understand them you see. Oh, and please call me N- that was terribly rude of me, forgetting to introduce myself."

"I guess so, I'm Ash, I'm holding Tepig, and Pikachu is my partner and were both from Kanto."

"Ahh, that would explain why I didn't know what Pokemon he was. I am not terribly knowledgeable on Pokemon from other Regions." Then the boy changed gears. "Pikachu, I'm curious, why do you follow Ash? He seems nice enough, but surely you would be happier in the wild?"

/Nah,/ Pikachu replied. /Being around this knucklehead is too much fun. I've met way so many interesting people and Pokemon. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, the Orange Isles, and Sinnoh- I'd never have seen anything more than Virdian Forest to Pallet if I were still wild. He's given me the chance to leave before, but I won't. Ash would never abandon any of his friends. Hell, he'd rather freeze to death in a blizzard- true story- than have us outside. Everyone else came out- I never went in- and we spent the night together, completely miserable, and I think the only reasons we came out of it were, the snow wall, Charmander's tail flame, and the fact that we all trusted each other.

/He's had chances where he could have logically abandoned us and it not be his fault- just a cruel twist of fate, Like after we survived a ship sinking to the bottom of the ocean, or whenever we were separated after a botched kidnapping attempt. He never took them. He always came back. But I guess if you want my first reason before I went through all of that with him- here's how our first day went: He oversleeps, and is late to pick up his starter. So the three regular choices for our Region: Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle, are gone. I'm the one he gets.

/I'm not happy and I make my unhappiness known by zapping him every chance I got. His response is to drag me with him using a rope and rubber gloves. I was willing to give him that he was a determined little idiot. Heck, _I_ knew more about what he was supposed to be doing and _I'm the Pokemon_. So he goes for some of the locals- a Pidgey first, then he goes and mistakes a Spearow for a Pidgey. Big ass mistake, Pidgey are docile- Spearow will chase you to the ends of the earth for a slight, even if it was imagined. So there is a whole flock after us, him for hitting one- me because I'm a Trained Pokemon, regardless of the fact that it happened recently. Oh and a storm is brewing.

/So what does he do? He puts his backpack on his chest, _turns around to face the __**entire flock**_- I kid you not- and tells me to run! The idiot values my life more than his own! Well following my streak, I decide to completely ignore what he said and zap the bastards out cold! I decided to follow him because I know how much he cares and how much he values our lives. For that I will _die_ to protect him. And like I could forget- that day, right after that, was when I first saw a Legendary. Ho-oh glided by cloaked in gold and a rainbow- even though I've seen Ho-oh since, nothing can compare to the sight of majesty from that first day./

"Interesting," N muttered, taking in all that Pikachu had said.

"What did he say?" Ash asked slightly apprehensive.

"He mostly gave an in-depth explanation of your first day as a trainer. By the way, how did you survive being inside a ship as it sunk?"

"Pikachu told you about that?"

"He glanced over it," N replied.

"To be honest I really can't remember all that well anymore. I think I tried to block out that particular experience," Ash explained.

"Ah, I would like to hear more of what your Pokemon have to say. And I believe that would be best in a battle. Would you care to oblige me?"

"Sure, though I would like to introduce you to more of my team. Let's go, Pidove!"

* * *

><p>Team meeting?/ Pidove asked as she was sent out.

/I guess so, unless there is another reason for him to call us all to be out here in the middle of the night,/ Oshawott responded as Ash continued to carefully set the contents of his bag out while he kept digging for Silver's Premier Ball.

/Hmm?/ Snivy asked.

/Ash has another Pokemon that, well he can't bring out in public,/ Pikachu began to explain. /But the kid has to train so we do it at night. Besides it's the first time he's had a full team of six-technically seven- in Unova. It is not that often that this happens./

/How can he have _technically seven_? Six is the limit! And besides, why can't our _mystery teammates_ be seen in the day time? They sound pretty arrogant to me!/ Snivy responded.

/Well you'll just have to meet him/them to find out. And he/they aren't arrogant! I mean I haven't spent a lot of time with him or anything but he doesn't seem arrogant and anyway even if he was he has good reason to be and-/

/Pidove!/ Pikachu cut in.

/Yes?/

/You're twittering, stop. We don't want to accidentally wake the others up,/ the mouse reprimanded.

/Sorry!/ she squeaked.

/But she's right- you will just have to meet him and hear his story,/ Oshawott sighed. /Though the kid's got a mouth on him./

/I think what he says is rather beautiful,/ Pidove commented.

Tepig rolled his eyes, /Only because he sings whether he wants to or not. And that other side of him does not seem like much of a singer!/

/That's just half of him! The rest of him is fine,/ Pikachu scoffed. /Besides considering everything- he's very considerate about what he says. And I'm pretty sure that even though he knows _when_ to use those, he doesn't actually know _what they mean_./

/Thank the heavens for small miracles,/Oshawott snarked.

* * *

><p>File found, would you like to open it? [<span>y<span>] [n]

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XDLog vii:

It has been decided that XD002 be put into solitary confinement. While the beast is not social its incessant singing is making the other Shadow Pokemon more difficult to control. This is not completely surprising as regular Pokemon would look to a Legendary as a sort of leader- but it cannot continue. So until it stops it will be have no contact with other Pokemon outside of experiments.

* * *

><p><strong>Few things:<strong>

**1) Scene two takes place after a time skip for those who could not figure it out.**

**2)Oxide has a bit of a potty mouth in everyone else's opinion. They consider him too young to say such things. (Suckers)**

**3)Ash, by this point, has pretty much accepted that he won't be getting rid of Iris and Cilian, but has not said anything to them about Silver. He figures that since Silver still can't come out during the day- random passerby- he doesn't have a reason to tell them about his Sixth member. They think he has five at this point. He is innerly debating revealing Silver's presence to them at night.**


	8. Chapter 8

"Hello Ash, Iris, Cilan," N greeted as Ash pulled on the Nacrene Museum/Gym door. "What bring you here? Well, I can guess why Ash is here but what about you Cilian, aren't you one of the Striaton city leaders?"

"I've decided to travel for a while to learn more and to make sure my Connoisseur skills stay sharp," Cilan responded.

"In other news, aspiring Master Ash Katchem was defeated by a door today. No word from the door yet, and Ash has so far refused to comment," Iris said basically telling Ash to get his feet off of the door.

"Hey!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Ash got off and backed away just in time as a man burst through the door and fell prostrate. "In there! It's horrible!"

"Is something wrong with the hallway?" Iris asked him as the four trainers and a Pikachu looked down a _perfectly normal_ hallway.

/Maybe he just doesn't like that shade of green,/ Pikachu suggested.

"I hope not- my hair color is all natural," N replied.

* * *

><p>"It's a curse!"Iris said.<p>

"We can explain this scientifically!" Cilan retorted.

"I just-" N grabbed Ash's shoulder.

"I don't think anyone is having a Gym Battle until we sort this whole thing out. So what are your thoughts on this?"

"Actually, it kinda reminds me of most of the Ghost types I've met," Ash said remembering in particular a Haunter that stayed with Sibrina.

"See he agrees with me!" Iris and Cilan shouted in unison. "What, no way!"

"Ash said that there's a ghost haunting the Museum," Iris stated

"No he said that it was due to a Pokemon," Cilan retorted. "That is an explainable phenomenon!"

"He kind of said both," N muttered.

"Stay out!" the two shouted at him causing both N and Ash to back up a bit cringing. They continued to argue in the background as Ash, N and Hawes talked on their own.

"So what are the local Ghost Types?" Ash asked.

"Well- we have the Yamask Tree, the Frillish Tree, the Litwick Tree, and the Gollet Tree, and out of those the Pokemon, if you're right would probably be either from the Yamask tree or a Gollet- Golurk is too big," N informed the Kanto Trainer.

Hawes's eyes lit up. "For our exhibit we ordered a replica of a Cofagrigus. While I know that is a replica we also obtained a Yamask replica mask! We had thought the artist had thrown it in for free and have put it on display, but what if it's a real Yamask mask!"

"Yamask are very territorial when it comes to their masks, this could be trouble!" N stated. Then he noticed Ash and Pikachu immediately looking around searching for something that wasn't there. "Erm… what are you two doing?"

"Er, sorry. See, whenever we hear the word "trouble" it usually means that a group of Pokemon thieves have come for Pikachu and my other Pokemon. It's part of their motto."

"And this happens often?"

/They've followed us around Kanto _twice_, Johto, Hoenn, the Orange Islands, Sinnoh, and we know they are in the region. Until we are convinced otherwise the default setting is that they are _always_ after us,/ Pikachu said. /And they've attacked about four times every week. Since we usually send them sky high I'm actually convinced that they are immortal- how else could they survive so many Blast Offs?/

"So are you guys going to stay there the entire time?" Ash asked his two friends. "We've got a Ghost Type to appease."

"Do you all like Ghost types?" Hawes asked them as they walked to the Museum.

"They're alright, I guess," Cilan said. "I don't understand that much about them though."

"I can't say I'm particularly fond of them but there's Giritina, so they can't be all bad," Iris said.

"You guys obviously haven't met the fun ones then," Ash said. "Most Ghost Types I've met are usually lonely and looking for a friend. They're a blast!" _'Though Giritina is really nice when the Distortion World is alright.'_

"And we have once again proved that Ash is a child," Iris stated rolling her eyes.

"Actually I feel the same way about ghost types- of course I feel strongly about all Pokemon," N told her. "By the way how many Pokemon do you have and do you only go for certain types?" he asked Ash.

Cilan and Iris were curious as to how Ash would answer. Ash had mentioned having other Pokemon and going on other journeys before but they hadn't heard much. Granted they had not been around him for very long but there were still many mysteries surrounding the boy. "Hmm… If you're going by technicalities I've never had a Pokemon of the Rock, Dark, Steel, or Ghost Type. If you're willing to grant me being extremely close to a wild Pokemon as being their trainer then so far I am only missing the Steel and Dark types. But, we don't know what's in an Egg I got, so who knows?"

"Bug Types?" "Heracross and a Butterfree though he's currently with his mate, oh I also gave a friend a Beedrill I caught for a contest. It won first prize."

"Poison?" "Beedrill again, Bulbasaur, an overy-affectionate Muk, and Gliscor."

"Psychic?" "Yep." N noticed an odd shadow pass over Ash's eyes and decided not to follow up.

"Ice?" "Glalie." /Don't forget Lapras!/ Unbeknownst to Ash and N, Iris gave a little start at the mention of that type.

"Dragon?" "A Gible, you know he actually reminds me of my Totadile in a way. They're both very energetic- I wonder if he's tried to eat Prof. Oak's house yet?" Just as before the two did not notice Iris perk back up at the mention of her favorite type or the odd look she sent Ash thinking his question to be a joke.

"Fighting? And don't say Tepig if he hasn't evolved yet. That doesn't count!" "Heracross is a duel type, Infernape, and Primeape though Pirmeape is in training with someone else at the moment."

"How many do you have?" "Unofficially sixty-eight, officially sixty. Plus an egg." That was… an impressive number especially since Ash seemed like the type who didn't catch large amounts of Pokemon but only raised a small team at a time. It did make Iris briefly wonder about their interactions.

"We're here!" Hawes told them.

"Now let's find that Yamask mask!" Iris cheered.

"And maybe see the rest of the exhibit while we're at it!" Cilan finished.

"Here it is," Hawes said. He removed the glass and set the mask out. "Yamask! Are you here? I'm sorry about the mistake! We thought it was a replica! Could you please forgive us?" Hawes shoulted into the air. But nothing happened.

"Hmm… Ghost types are more active at night," Cilan said. "So maybe it's sleeping."

"Yeah we should stay the night just in case, and if it isn't a Yamask we'll be in a better position to figure this mystery out!" Iris exclaimed.

* * *

><p>"Ash, wake up. Yamask is here," Iris told him. "And I don't think he's happy."<p>

As the others got up a purple fog started to envelop them. "That's Haze," N cried recognizing the move even as he came out of his stupor. Then they heard clanking as a suit of armor came down the hallway.

"How is it doing that?" Hawes asked.

"Psychic," Ash responded remembering some of the things that Silver had used the move for.

"But isn't Psychic, you know, a Psychic move?"

"Many Ghost types are able to learn Psychic type moves," Cilan answered.

"It's one of the main reasons that the type is so versatile. They make for excellent counters against fighting and Normal types using Psychic moves, and why Dark types are the favorite counter," Iris continued

"But we gave it back its mask why is it attacking?" Ash asked.

/You locked the Precious _away_! You must be _punished_!/ the Yamask declared.

"It says that it's punishing us for locking the mask away in the first place," N translated.

"Oh no it doesn't," Ash declared. "Pikachu break Yamask's control of the armor with Quick Attack. Then go into anti-Psychic maneuvers- Zap and Dash!"

As Pikachu battled his invisible opponent Iris remarked, "This would be so much easier with a Dark Type or even a Bug Type."

Ash looked at N who held his hands up futilely, "I catch local Pokemon in the area to help me out and release them before I leave. Purrloin is probably around Striaton right now."

/You'd make a great Ranger,/ Pikachu shouted keeping on the move so that Yamask couldn't lock on to use Psychic and sporadically using Thunderbolt searching for his opponent. When Yamask let out a cry close to the ceiling Pikachu pumped up the voltage thinking he got a hit- but that was a trick from Yamask, the bolt continued and struck the lights somewhat overloading the building's electrical system and causing the lights to dim.

"What's a Ranger?" N asked having never heard of one before.

"A Pokemon Ranger is someone that with the help of Wild Pokemon protect areas from poachers as well as making sure that an area isn't so overgrown or desolate as to cause an issue. They don't even catch Pokemon in the sense that we talk about though it would probably be best if you talked to one yourself. They can explain a lot better than I can," Cilan told him.

"Alright what's going on here?" a woman asked stepping in.

"Honey, you're home! Excellent timing as always!" Hawes greeted her. "A Yamask was accidentally transported with the artifacts and I accidentally put its mask on display! We've tried apologizing but it didn't work. And now it wants to punish us."

/You never apologized!/ Yamask shouted.

"Oh dear, Yamask was asleep earlier so it didn't hear your apology," N told him.

"Well first things first, both of you stop fighting!" Linora commanded. Pikachu stopped outputting voltage and running. "Now then, I can't see all that well and if we're apologizing it should be face to face. So go, Watchdog!"

* * *

><p>"All this is under the Museum?" N asked joining Ash downstairs as Linora's next challenger.<p>

"That's right, sorry about the lighting," Linora told them. "It looks like you knocked out our regular power supply with that Thunderbolt. We're using our backup generator but the Museum get's priority because in cases of power failure it's more likely that more people will be there rather than down here. One of my aids should have it fixed in about an hour if you'd like to wait."

"No, that's okay. It's not like it's a one sided handicap," Ash said.

"Can you say, 'One track mind'?" Iris asked breezily.

"Tepig, Ember!"  
>"Lillipup, use Roar!" As Tepig was returned to his Pokeball Ash's second Pokemon came out. But it wasn't from his other pocket or his belt. The light erupted from his backpack as a black feathered Lugia took the field.<p>

"What!" "What is that?" "I've never seen a Pokemon like that before!" "No way!" "Ash has a sixth Pokemon?" _'This is not good- how did Silver get out here anyway? Wait, his body… he's terrified!'_

/Call the match!/ Pikachu shouted.

Ash didn't understand what his partner had said but leapt into motion.

/Don't know what you are, but this is a Gym Battle. I can't afford to care,/ Lillipup growled. Soon however it yelped as Silver fell into his memories and sent them out in a Psychic Burst. _Pain… A darkly lit room… A fight… So much pain, when was it going to end?_

"Silver! Silver, I'm right here! Everything's going to be alright now I promise," Ash called getting down and embracing his Pokemon. "I'm sorry, Silver. I'm so sorry- this shouldn't have happened." Silver returned his embrace and began to cry into his shoulder.

"What's going on here?" Linora asked.

/Uh-oh, _busted_,/ Pikachu said looking at all the witnesses.

"This is Silver," Ash said as an opening of an explanation. Then he looked at the Lugia and saw how though they still flowed freely with tears they were hard and cold. "No, that was Silver, this is Oxide."

* * *

><p>File found, would you like to open it? [<span>y<span>] [n]

…

…

…

XDLog viii:

Once again the Aggressive personality shows its power. XD002 has shown time and again that it is capable of defeating higher level opponents- especially after we have begun using TMs on it. Today it has taken down five normal Camprupt that we- _procured_ to test XD002. It was no contest. However we have yet to get rid of its Submissive personality or get said personality to _stop_ its incessant _singing_!

* * *

><p><strong>Dun, dun, daa! No way to hide that!<strong>

**So I added N to the Museum episodes. For those of you who remember N _does_ challenge you just outside of the Nicrene Gym. I originally wanted him here because I wanted to explore how the Hidden King of Team Plasma would react to Ciphers actons. And remember he truly feels that Pokemon are better off in the wild- he's just being played by Ghestis.**

**Also does anyone else agree that N seems like he'd be a good match for a Pokemon Ranger? I originally threw that one in as a throw-away gag but the more I think on it the more sense it actually makes. My mind scares me.**

**Also for those of you who have looked at Ash's Pokemon on Bulbapedia and are about to tell me that Ash never had a Psychic or that the count is wrong. I will defend it. Ash has never had a Psychic _in canon_ (at the point when this chapter was written). Now let's review what the major changes to this fic are from canon: Silver is now Ash's Pokemon. Silver is a Lugia. What are Lugia's Types? While I'm glad you're paying attention- but that's kind of a big mistake.**

**How I got Ash's official Pokemon Count: I counted Gliscor, all the Pokemon "In Training," all the Pokemon "At Oaks," and Six pokemon to account for his full team. Scraggy hasn't hatched yet and the Anime lets people carry eggs around even if they have a full team so I assume that the league doesn't count eggs as a member of the battle team.**

**Unofficial: Official Count plus Released, Traded Away, Given Away, and Unofficial. I did not count Temporary.**

**Though I _did_ almost forget that Ash doesn't just have _one _Tauros but _thirty_. Original had 31 and 39 for amounts respectively. That would be how many different _species he has_. Can we get a headcount on who else almost fell fo that?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Warning: Oxide's got a mouth on him and he uses it! A.k.a. Warning Explitives used- no censorship.**

* * *

><p>"Ash are you okay?" Iris asked. He had just declared that this Pokemon was different than the one that he had called out to. Did that mean that he had more than one? What was it anyway? She noticed that Ash had left his Pokedex inside his backpack and so she took it out and aimed the scanner at the Pokemon in his arms.<p>

Ash, for his part, merely nodded completely focused on Oxide- partially as to still comfort Silver, partially because he was afraid that Oxide might go berserk.

"Lugia: The Diving Pokemon," The Pokedex informed, showing a picture of a normal Lugia. "Lugia is a Flying/Psychic Type Pokemon. Said to be able to cause a storm that lasts for forty days with a single flap of its wings Lugia stay deep underwater to prevent unnecessary harm. According to Johto legend once both Lugia and Ho-oh stayed in Ecruteak city in the Brass and Tin Towers respectively. Lugia is said to have fled after a fire which caused the Brass Tower's collapse."

"How could the Pokedex have gotten the appearance so wrong? This one looks nothing like the appearance in the Pokedex!" Iris stated.

"Not only that but look at the normal height and weight estimations- I'd say this one is very young. Which begs the question where did Ash find him? Remember what it said about saying underwater?" Cilan said before looking back upon the sight before him. "This Pokemon, it has a very dark taste, so much sadness and anger- but there is also joy, how strange."

"I sense that we're missing something here," Linora said taking all this in while staying calm on the outside.

Oxide who had been listening to them began to laugh. But it wasn't a joyous laugh but the kind that can only come from one on the brink of sanity. /**The Dex isn't the problem. **_**I am!**_** I've always been the damn problem**,/ Oxide muttered. /**Maybe it would be better if I never formed**./

"Don't talk like that!" Ash shouted. He might not have understood the words but then again words are only seven percent of meaning. "Oxide, what happened to Silver was never you're fault. Blame Cipher for what they did, blame us for not knowing that they had taken you, but don't blame yourself. You're the only reason that Silver was able to make it through all that intact. And remember what your uncle told us? We'll get your mother back I promise. Cipher will pay."

"Cipher! Now I know we're missing something! If they're involved then this is bad!" Linora stated. She began to walk up the stairs and motioned them all to come with her. Ash, picking up Oxide who then levitated his bag to him, followed last.

"Excuse me, Lenora, but who or what is a Cipher?" Iris asked.

"I'm guessing most of you have never heard of them," Linora sighed. "Judging by the fact that you didn't even know about the fact that Ash had a full team, he never told you about his last Pokemon, though if Cipher I up to their old tricks I can't say I'm surprised." She went over to the Orre section and pulled out a binder which contained police records. Then they all gathered around a table as she began her tale. "About five years ago there were only two groups that struck fear into the hearts of Pokemon Trainers, but they operated primarily close to Kanto-Johto, Team Rocket and Team Snagem. The League cracked down as hard as they could and tried to keep a lid on things so only Gym Leaders from that time are likely to know about it.

"Both stole Pokemon, but Snagem was worse. That was because they had a hidden partner, an organization that went by Cipher. Ciphers are the keys to codes allowing the message to be decrypted and read. Like their namesake Cipher was the key to understanding why Team Snagem was in business. Snagem would give their poached Pokemon to Cipher who used them in insidious experiments. The result was that the Pokemon had their hearts artificially sealed away, we call such unfortunate creatures Shadow Pokemon."

/**And I'm one of them**,/ Oxide said almost dismissively. N's eyes widened with shock.

"How did the League stop them?" Cilan asked.

"They didn't," Linora answered. "Because one of Snagem's top agents found his conscious and made it his personal mission to cut them down. Together with a girl who could see the Auras of Pokemon- Shadow Pokemon have a distinctly different Aura, normally this is the only way to distinguish them- they took back all the Shadow Pokemon and purified them. Though they also disappeared soon afterwards. But before they left all of Cipher's Admins and its leader were apprehended. So far, only one has managed to get out and that is Mirror B. who was in charge of distribution, and has no way to make more."

"But if they got all the Shadow Pokemon, then how is it that our friend here," N motioned to Oxide, "is one?" At the surprised looks he merely shrugged and said. "He stated it flat out."

"Because, somehow, they never stopped. Over the last five years they must have been in hiding but they've also been collecting as well. Other than Silver and his mother, Lugia suspects that they also have an Articuno, a Zapdos, and a Moltres," Ash said speaking up for the first time. "He was the one that actually asked me to come here, to keep Silver safe since Silver is the only known surviving escapee."

"Does the League know about this?" Linora asked.

"I think so. Prof. Oak was there and he's also contacted the other Professors. At least one of them should have told their Regional Champion by now."

"That's good," Linora sighed. "Still that begs the question…"

"What is it, sweetheart?" Hawes asked.

"All the Gym Leaders should have gotten a letter about Ash's little friend here. Had I known about him I never would have had Lillipup use Roar. The move can be temperamental. And since Shadow Techniques are not allowed..."

Suddenly Tepig came out of his ball looking forlorn. Ash set Oxide on the table and picked the Fire Pig up. "Hey buddy, what wrong?"

/I'm sorry. It's my fault./

/**Quit it, it's embarrassing**!/ Oxide screeched.

/But it's my fault they found out! If I had only been faster with Ember, or knew Flamethrower, or had evolved-/

/**Lillipup would have dodged, _and then_ used Roar. Even if you were using Quick Attack or _fucking Extremespeed_- or if you _had_ landed a hit; unless it knocked our opponent out or _knocked his wind out in one hit_ he still would have used it. Don't beat yourself up about it, if you're going to mope then let me- I leave better bruises. Besides our match ain't over yet- this is more a stop in play than anything else**./

/Oxide, play nice,/ Pikachu chided. /I seem to remember you fretting over something that was beyond you today, and having to be comforted by Ash, as well./  
>**Fuck you**./ _Don't say that to Pikachu, he's only trying to help! __**I **__**don't**__** 'Play **__**Nice**__**.'**_  
>but he's right, Tepig. This isn't your fault, sometimes bad things just happen. Linora should have known about Silver and not used Roar, but she didn't because she never got the memo. Sometimes bad things just happen./

"Wow, Tepig seems really upset," Cilan said watching the small pig now sniffling in Ash's arms.

"He probably has abandonment issues after what happened with his last trainer," Iris said in a huff. "If I ever find that guy, I'll-"

/No, that's not it I swear!/

/Tepig,/ Pikachu sighed. /Ash would never abandon you because you're a quote Problem Pokemon end quote. You're not the first that Ash has taken in after their original trainer abandoned them. Or the first with issues. And they all turned out great./ '_After a while_.' Pikachu mentally added thinking of the royal jerk Charzard had been after evolving. '_As long as Tepig doesn't turn out like he did originally we'll be fine.'_

/Really?/

/Yep, in fact I think we'd be more worried about you if you _didn't_ have any attachment to your former trainer. It's alright to miss him a little but trust me when I say you are much better off without him. If he wasn't willing to train you after a loss then he doesn't deserve you./

/Thanks, Pikachu./

/**Oh sure, thank him**./

/He'd probably thank you too if it weren't for your mouth and cursing./

N smiled at the exchange then thought of something, "Wait, Shadow Techniques?"

"That's right, Shadow Techniques. They are only usable by Shadow Pokemon and seem to be Super Effective against anything that isn't another Shadow Pokemon. They also replace a Pokemon's normal move set when it becomes a Shadow Pokemon. Because of the fact that Shadow Pokemon only know Shadow Techniques, which are banned in League matches like this, while they aren't banned- they might as well be, after all they can't attack. See Shadow doesn't add any resistances- unless you count to itself, s the Pokemon themselves are allowed- but who would enter a Pokemon into a League battle that can't attack?

"Which puts us in a unique position; Roar has basically forced Ash into a one-on-two position. And while nothing is really prohibiting the match from continuing, I don't feel it's fair and would like to restart the match at a later date, if that's alright with you, Ash," Linora spoke.

"Well I guess-"

/**No! No way! Even without Shadow Techniques I can fight! And even if **_**I can't, Silver can**_**! What's all that training for if we never **_**use**_** it! Pikachu only wanted you to give up so they didn't find out about us, well the Glameow is already out of the bag! We can **_**win**_** this**!/ Oxide cried.

"You really want a chance, don't you?" Ash asked. To which Oxide quickly nodded.

"Okay, this has gone on long enough, I've got to ask, who is Silver? First you called him Silver but after that you've called him Oxide. You've been talking about Silver so much- is he Oxide's sibling or what?" N asked in exasperation.

"What?" Ash asked at first. Then he understood. "Oh no, their relationship is kind of complex. See this Lugia's original name was Silver. But after Cipher got their hands on him he developed a second personality, and the other personality everyone calls Oxide. So I guess his full name would be Silver Oxide. Another interesting thing is that both personalities have their own move set. Silver is closer to that of a regular Lugia, while Oxide has all the Shadow techniques as well as Psychic. Psychic is the only move they share." Oxide let out a Psychic burst that seemed to communicate "There you go!" "Is Silver okay with this?" Silver nodded his own assent though no one could tell. "Well, Linora I think my Pokemon have answered for me."

"I guess so, though I think we should wait until we get that lighting problem fixed. Conquering weaknesses are important but is best done with preparation," Linora said referencing Silver's earlier panic attack.

* * *

><p>Once the lights were back at full strength Ash, Silver, Linora, and Lillipup retook their positions on the gym floor. "Battle Commence!" Hawes declaired.<p>

"Ok, return Lillipup," Linora said. "And go, Watchdog!" '_Okay the Pokedex said that Lugia are Flying and Psychic, and that they live underwater. Which means they probably can learn some pretty powerful Water Type moves too. Since Dark and Electric are just as effective on Lugia…_' "Thunderbolt!"  
>"Whirlpool!" When Silver performed Whirlpool many were surprised to see the move begin practically out of nothing at Silver's feet and sprout into an enclosed water tower around him. They were even more surprised when the Thunderbolt hit the tower and spiraled around it to the ground. "Silver's Uncle created that move to deal with the Three Titans when they start fighting. While this version isn't nearly as powerful right now, it doesn't have to be! Slam into Watchdog!" The rotating tower drilled into Watchdog as Silver swam within it.<p>

"That Whirlpool tower might have deflected Thunderbolt but can it stop _Confuse Ray_?" Linora asked. After Watchdog had performed the move the Whirlpool tower dispersed leaving a very muddled-looking Silver. "Let's try that again Thunderbolt!" The electricity arced toward the target and Silver actually began flying _toward it_ when Ash told him to dodge.

"Oh no, I think that seeing the Confuse Ray from inside the Whirlpool actually made it worse," Cilan said observing the Flying Type's very awkward movement.

/**Silver might be confused- but I'm not**!/ Oxide cried taking control in time to just slip by.

"Oxide?" The Lugia nodded.  
>"Remember, Ash, no Shadow Moves," Linora said.<p>

"Oh I remember, the question is did you remember this? _Use Psychic, now_!" Oxide's normally red eyes took on a demonic look as Watchdog began to rise from the ground and was slammed into the far wall. Oxide wasn't sure that Watchdog was out- it had still been resisting the Psychic when he had released the Normal Type, _after_ he had slammed it into the wall. However there was a veil of smoke preventing visual confirmation.

Linora was the first to see that Watchdog could still fight. "Thunderbolt!"

/**Shhhiiit**./ _**'Silver, get out here, I am not in my element here**_**.**_**'**_ Simply dodging was not his style and without a visual he couldn't tell where to aim a Psychic. Sending a Psychic shove was out simply because he might mistake the Trainer for the Watchdog. Zap! That had hurt- not as bad as Pikachu, then again Oxide doubted that anyone short of a Legendary would hurt as much as Pikachu. /**Tch. Is that all you got? Come out and fight, pussy**!/ No one noticed that N was looking slightly more mortified each time Oxide spoke. '_I messed up didn't I? That's why you took over. __**You've only messed up if you don't **__**get out there right now**_!' /I apologize./ Silver muttered as he returned to the battle.

"Silver? Use Gust- Let's blow that smokescreen away!" Silver scrambled to do as asked. It looked slightly comical until his eyes divined that he was using Psychic to empower the move just enough to blow Watchdog off its feet. A small reminder of how powerful a fully grown Lugia could make a wind gust. It was also enough to prevent a smokescreen from forming showing that the Pokemon was out cold.

"Watchdog is unable to battle!" Hawes declared.  
>"Alright!"<br>/First victory!/ Pikachu called out.  
>"Is that the power of a Legendary Pokemon?" N asked. "Or is that the power of the bond between trainer and Pokemon?"<br>"Maybe both," Iris suggested. N shrugged at the possibility.  
>"That battle had an ancient regality to it. But Silver Oxide is…odd," Cilan remarked.<p>

"Gee ya think?" Iris asked rhetorically.

"Yes, because while Silver is more affectionate and open towards Ash, Oxide is the one that is more in tune with Ash's natural rhythm. Silver is more willing to take an attack- Oxide looks for places to counter before the original blow can land. Similarly, Ash tries to strike hard and fast- dodging while waiting for an opening."

"But it looked like Silver was working better with Ash!" Iris exclaimed.

"True but also remember, Oxide was missing most of his move set. It's harder to cut through a rock with a chisel when you know that you have a jackhammer lying around."

"You surprised me there Ash. But I'm not done yet. Go Lillipup."

"Silver, do you mind sitting this round out?" Oxide shook his head. '_Why did you? __**Tepig thinks he goofed. In his mind he needs the chance to redeem himself.**__ So you do care about the others! __**Only because I know you do, so what hurts them will make you hurt. Why do you have to be so damn empathetic? It makes my job so much fucking harder.**_'

* * *

><p>'<em>Why are we- Oh no, Tepig must have lost. <em>_**Great and there goes about half an hour of midnight training. He gets so damn worked up over his losses. Still looks like he landed a hit on the fucker before he went down… oooh it's a burn too. That'll be hurting throughout the battle, maybe that info will cheer him up**_. _You think? __**No, but I can dream.**_'

/Grr… I'll take you down fast! Doesn't matter what you are, or what your friend did, I won't lose./ Lillipup growled. Oxide sent Ash an image of part of Lillipup's chest fur on fire. Then turning his head Oxide noticed that Ash smirked a little- he understood the message.

"Silver, Surf!"  
>"Lillipup, Take Down!"<p>

Ash waited until Lillipup had left the ground and put in his response. "Silver, fly up higher and let the wave crash early!" Silver did so causing Lillipup to crash headfirst into a breaking wave. The foam temporarily swallowing the puppy and hiding it from view.

"Lillipup, Shadow Ball!" _**'Fuck a Ghost technique!'**_

"Whirlpool!" '_**Thank you- I had forgotten that one.**__ Back-Seat Battling!_' Four spheres detonated at different points along the Whirlpool. One location as it swirled to the end was hit by a second blast temporarily allowing Silver's head to be seen.

'_So two's the limit, huh?_' "Don't give him time, _Psychic_!" '_Did he read my- no he read the situation, just like I did. He was just a little quicker on the draw._' Lillipup was sent straight into the same point that Watchdog had been earlier by Oxide.

"Come on Lillipup, Get up!" Linora encouraged. Lillipup managed to stand on pure grit- then the burn it had suffered caused it to collapse.

"Lillipup is unable to battle- the victory goes to Ash from Pallet Town!"

"Alright Silver, Oxide, and Tepig too. We won!"

/Yes. Way to go you... two? Three? Who cares way to go!/

/We won? We won! Do you think this will cheer Tepig up? **Eventually**./

* * *

><p>"Alright I got… a Basics Badge!"<p>

/Gotta collect 'em all!/

"Now I can put it in that badge case Bianca gave me. I should probably put the Trio badge there too." As he opened the case a small note fluttered out. When Ash picked it up he found it addressed to him. The note read "Call me two days after you get this case. Prof. Krane wants to talk with you! Prof. Juniper."

"Prof. Krane?" Iris asked.

"He's the head of the Pokemon HQ Lab in Orre. We haven't been able to speak with him yet because he had been kidnapped. They must have gotten him back! This is awesome!"

"Two days after you get the case… that would be today!" Cilan said.

"Your right!"

"Well I think we can all had over there seeing as I need to get Watchdog and Lillipup a checkup. Especially before I take another challenger today," Linora said focusing her gaze on N.

"So it seems like we're all going then," the teen stated calmly.

"I wonder if they give private rooms for telephone conferences?"

* * *

><p>File found, would you like to open it? [<span>y<span>] [n]

…

…

"Professor!"

"Michael! How did you-"

"We broke in, kicked butt, and took Shadow Pokemon, how else? No come on. I think I heard one of the goons I beet calling for his boss. I want to be out of here before they show up!"

"Give me a moment Michael, my drive is downloading all the information I can find about some Pokemon called XD001and XD002."

"We already got that!"

"Do you have records on how they were created?"

"Well no."

"Then sit tight. There's a virus trying to delete the files and I'm just staying ahead of it!"

"Can't you hurry up?"

"Almost eighty-five, ninty-four, ninty-nine, got it!" Prof. Krane tore out his drive just before the virus could infect it.

"Alright, now we've got to hurry!"

"Yes sir," the Prof. said with a smirk.

"That really wasn't funny, Professor," Michael said as they ran down the hallway.

* * *

><p><strong>Surprise! You were reading the XD Logs over prof. Krane's shoulder!<strong>

**Told ya that Pokemon XD was running parallel to this story- thought I had forgoten right?**

**Well I didn't!**

**Now I have a question: as it stands I'm going to pass over N's gym battle with Lenora. Ash and Co. were there- N won, though Lillipup evolved in the process. I'm going to try and make a poll on my profile for this. Do you want want me to try and make up this scene, cause honestly I have only the vaguest ideas about it? I'll keep it up a week I think.**

**Also to those of you who are waiting for the next chapter of MB. I am still doing it- I'm just scared as shit that I won't be able to make a good enough fight- so can you tell me how I did with this one? Help is help and feedback is usually help.**


	10. Chapter 10

In a room that they had sequestered from Nurse Joy and locked before stuffing the cracks to deter eavesdroppers, Ash, N, Cilian, Iris, Lenora, and Hawes sat at the edge of their seats waiting for Prof. Juniper and Oak to set up a double relayed call that would make the conversation much more difficult to trace. Paranoia, yes, but there is a saying about it and being right. The Professors of Unova and Kanto were also listening just off screen to give any input that they felt would be relevant.

Then the screen showed the face of a brown haired man in his early forties, if his still brown hair was any indication. "Ash," Prof. Oak's voice came through, "This is Prof. Krane." Ash realized a breath and was surprised that he was not the only one. The man's face on the screen stayed calm the entire time however. Though the man's glasses had slipped at bit down his nose at the shock of just how many people he was talking to, he smiled when they all visibly relaxed.

"Ash, not to be rude but, why are so many people here?" Prof. Juniper inquired. "While I know that Iris has been traveling with you and I can understand Cilian's and Lenora's involvement, I don't believe I've met the green-haired young man with a ponytail."

"My name is N, ma'am," said trainer replied.

"I think I'd best field that question Prof.," Lenora said calmly. "It has to do with a concern we have. Ash just challenged me for the Basics Badge-everyone here was present for that, during the course of our battle I had Lillipup use Roar, inadvertently sending out Ash's charge instead of his second. It was the first I had been informed of Ash having a Shadow Pokemon or the reasons behind it. So I have to ask, is the League informed about this?"

"I must also admit that I was ignorant of Ash's Sixth until the battle," Cilian stated. "While our Gym is the most recent, I am hurt if we as Gym Leaders are not allowed to be trusted with such information."

"Yes," though everyone could hear the frown on her face as she dissected why the Gym Leaders were still uninformed. "I can see why you are all concerned," she continued slowly as if just before the threshold of the answer. "The best reason I can come up with at this point is that it is being put under a heading of low priority to prevent anyone who is spying on our information network from flagging it. As such it should either have already come or be there by next week, but check with the others to make sure that they know." The two Leaders nodded.

"Um, Professor," Iris began as if unsure how to word it. "Is Ash going to be allowed to carry more than Six at a time? I mean right now doing this kind of puts him at a disadvantage to everyone else- so wouldn't it be fair to let him use more?" Ash looked over at her in shock, he had never once thought about asking that.

"Unfortunately no," Prof. Oak sighed. "Many trainers have at least one Pokemon on their teams that for one reason or another cannot enter into a League sanctioned battle safely. If we were to make an exception for him, it would raise questions- also since most battles are not six-on-six competitions, it allows trainers to either have those Pokemon with them or to make a challenge with less and not be at a disadvantage." Both Ash and Iris wilted at the verdict. "A nice try though, you are looking to solve the problem, keep it up," he concluded.

"Would it be possible to share an account?" N asked suddenly. "Two or more people each having six at a time but able to swap or borrow their teams because the Pokemon are registered to the group?"

"It can be done," Oak, said slowly, letting them know that there would be a catch. "However only between trainers who have the same Badges and who are traveling together, also no single member can carry more than six Pokemon at any given time for battle purposes. The badge restriction is to prevent one trainer from riding another's coattails into a competition that they would just not be ready for, or an odd situation where each of the trainers has seven badges but the only Gym for each of them is one that a different group member has already conquered. A trainer cannot receive the same badge twice. It would also apply to ribbons for coordinators. As such, most trainers don't form these groups if they've gained one or two badges on their own already," the former Kanto Champion finished with a sigh.

"Ash," N asked calmly, "what badges do you have in this League?"

"The Trio and Basics Badges," Ash answered hesitantly. Surely N wasn't proposing…

"Then when I win the Basics Badge would you mind forming a group with me?" He was.

"And just what makes you think I will lose?" Lenora asked, eyes flashing dangerously.

"I will be incredibly persistent. If I do not get it this time, I shall try again… and again until I do. I am not one to give up easily and my friends will find a way to defeat you before too much time has passed. They are far more inventive than many would ever give them credit for." Linora smirked, acknowledging the point and they turned back to the screen.

"Well, that was certainly informative," Prof. Krane spoke for the first time. "It's a pleasure to meet you all, even if only over the vid-phone. Ash, if I may make a request? I would like to meet XD002- sorry I was reading Cypher's records for a long time and I was captured before Prof. Oak sent anything; what is his name again?"

"Silver, sir, Silver Oxide."

"I would like to meet Silver then, if it's alight with you."

"Sure!" He pulled the Premier Ball, tossed it into the air and Silver appeared in full view of the screen and the others. "Silver, this is Prof. Krane," he introduced the young legendary to the face on the screen. "He's going to help get your mother back to normal." The Legendary looked hopefully at the man for validation.

He nodded. "I was just going over some of the information that Prof. Oak had sent over from the tests that he had had you take while you were with him. It will take some doing, but we'll crack it. Unfortunately we don't know where she is at the moment- but we do have some leads." He motioned for someone to step into the camera's line of sight.

"If I may, I would like to introduce you all to my rescuer, protégé, and the best trainer we have at the lab, Michael." The boy was about ten with calm eyes and a grin on his face, he had a pair of goggles around his neck, and if it had been higher resolution, they would be able to see some of the sand in his hair. "He recently broke me out of a Cypher lab and we were able to obtain among other things an encoded CD-ROM. Hopefully this should provide us some clues as to where they are."

Michael looked right at Silver and made a binding promise, just as Ash and Richie had done five years ago to his mother, "I'm going to get her back, alright? I give you my word."

"Yeah, everything will be just fine! Big Brother will handle it!" The words were accompanied by a small girl, maybe six to eight, jumping between Prof. Krane and the screen.

After getting over the initial shock Michael introduced the girl. "This is my sister, Jossie. She's… excitable."

"We noticed," Lenora said sweetly.

* * *

><p>…Meanwhile:<p>

Staraptor flew lazily around the edges of Pallet Town. Ash was gone and the other two, his Noctowl and Swellow, had not been interested in what could be considered "patrolling their territory." They knew the area well and by now the novelty had long since worn off. Not so for the Sinnoh Pokemon, he found the newness of the small town and the land and sea Routes that connected it to the rest of Kanto to still be breath taking.

Being fully evolved and trained also meant he really didn't have to worry about being the poor bastard who got snacked on or about grabbing one. Though perhaps he might peruse the local delicacy that was a Ratata… Thoughts of food were quickly chased from his mind when he saw five Spearow against a lone and downed Pigeotto. A quick Areal Ace changed that, scattering the bullies.

/Thanks f'r that,/ the Pigeotto told him.

/No problem, I'd hope that someone would do the same for me in that situation,/ Staraptor replied. /So what'd you do to ruffle their chest feathers so bad?/

/Nothin'. It's been that way for years. Yer new, ain't cha? Probably Trained, ne'er seen the like a' ya round here 'fore- not that I got anythin wrong with Trained Pokemon. Plenty o' nice un's are Trained. Heck, Boss is Trained. 'Course, he ain't seen his trainer in years, job ain't done and no 'un to pass it to. Say, you goin anywhere? I could introduce ya' if ya' like./

/Sure, why not?/ Starapor replied. It would be interesting to see meet a Trained Pokemon that had lived in the Wild- by the sound of it longer than he had been trained. /By chance, would you happen to know the name of your Boss's Trainer?/

/'Course, Ash Ketchum. Ya' know 'im?/

/Yeah, I do,/ Staraptor answered much more subdued than he had before. /Yeah, I do./

* * *

><p><strong>Plot points dealt with, even if it really doesn't feel that way. Once again, I have nothing against the "experienced trainers those with special needs can carry more than Six at a time." I just tryed to do something different and remember, in the games Six was the Max, not even Arceus can change that.**

**Also Pigeot has never had a gender designation. I do not feel that the fics where Pigeot is female are incorrect, I just don't want to do it again.**

**P.S. Brains**

**P.P.S. Credit cannot be assigned if one does not know who to assign it to.**


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